The Longer She Runs
by lovelyleen
Summary: Mika ran.  It was the thing she was best at. That is until, she runs into a wall.  A wall in the form of three teenagers fighting the battle for peace.  AU.


She was running. That's what she always had been best at. She knew the roads and allies as well as her the lines on her palms, but it was never a question of which path to take, but a question of how fast to go. It wasn't fear that drove her, it was the adrenaline.

"Quick! Stop her before she gets away!" Mika laughed to herself, they would never catch her. Jumping over a crate, she ran into the back alley and scaled the fence. Once she got over, she would be in Sato territory. Her pursuers wouldn't risk getting caught there. She slowed to walk to examine the object she obtained. It was a small cube made out of some sort of blue stone. The markings on it weren't anything she could figure out.

"Mika! Mika, hurry up," a boy done the alley called to her. She slipped the stone into her pocket and jogged towards him. "Did you get it?"

"Course I did. Don't you have any faith in me, Sei?" Mika replied bumping him in the shoulder.

"I'm impressed, Sato sent four men without success in the past week." Sato was the head of the family. And by family, he means mafia. He controlled the entire southern part of Republic City. The import, export and sale of all things only happened on his command.

"He should have just sent me in the first place." The boy shrugged.

"We have to hurry up, the meeting's starting." The pair continued to walk the back alleys of the city. Sei continuously looking over his shoulder, as if expecting someone to attack but Mika was not worried. She should have been.

They were jumped from above. The pursuers jumped down the building and immediately went for Mika. They knew what they were looking for. They struggled trying to get free from the six attackers.

"Mika, RUN! Now! You can't let them get it!" Mika struggled to get her wrists free from the man holding her. Sei too was free and began to bend fire but the attackers were ready for this. One who snuck up behind him managed to block his chi.

"Sei! SEI! A little help here!" It was four on one, not exactly the best situation to be in. But Mika was a resourceful girl. As they advanced on her, she was driven to the corner. Jumping onto the fence and climbing to the top, she narrowly avoided them grabbing her and pulling her down. As soon as she could she reached the top of the fence and hopped onto the roof of the building.

"Go, go now!" Sei was completely tied up. There was no way for him to catch up with her. "Equalists! You must find Sato, immediately!" Equalists were never a good sign. Especially now, they had been gaining a lot more support. It may have been the Avatar's arrival at fault for that.

Mika ran over building tops as fast as she could. What was so important about this cube? It was the only reason the Equalists would consider jumping them on their own land.

Quickly slipping down through a window, Mika arrived at the Sato meeting. She breathed heavily while accepting all the stares that were at here.

"Mika, how dare you interrupt the meeting like this? You know the rules." Sato was speaking directly at her, a first. He usually didn't acknowledge anyone who wasn't of importance. The only people who were graced with his presence were his blood. He trusted very few people. The only reason Mika even had a place in his mafia was because of Sei. Sei was Sato's nephew, the crowned prince of the mafia. Sei met her on the streets three years before and decided he wanted her to be his second in command. A bold decision for a fourteen year old.

"Sei's been taken." It felt as though the temperature of the room had dropped ten degrees. Sato rose from his throne at the head of the room.

"What?" he was a very intimating old man.

Mika took a deep breath in. "The Equalists jumped us."

"And you got away and he didn't? Somehow I doubt that."

"He told me to go. I have this," she pulled out the cube and the eyes of Sato glowed. Faster than humanly possible, Sato was taking the cube from her fingers.

"Excellent. This is the answer to all our problems. Well done, Mika. Now I won't have to punish you for your intolerant manner in this meeting." Sato went back to his throne while studying the cube. A smile graced his lips, a rare appearance of emotion on the man. "Now leave, we have important things to discuss."

Mika stood in shock for a moment. She had just delivered the most important object and was being dismissed without even knowing what it was for? No. That wasn't going to happen.

"What is it?" she asked. Most of the men turned their heads in shock to her. No one ever questioned Sato. At least no one who lived to tell the tale.

"It is none of your concern," he coolly replied. "Now go, before I make you." Mika had no choice but to leave. She couldn't disobey her only source of income.

She spun on her heel and walked briskly out of the room and down the stairs. Once out on the street, she realized the burning pain in her head. She could barely think with it there. She was definitely in need of an excellent cup of tea and some cayenne for her headache.

"Hey Mika, can I get you anything?" Ito asked. He ran the best tea stall in all of Republic City, luckily for Mika, not many people knew about it. And Ito was always giving her free drinks, which may have to do with the fact she looked out for his part of town. He had a soft spot for her.

"Cup of tea, if you will," she requested. The pain in her head had subsided a bit but now there was another feeling. One she couldn't quite place, like someone was reading her thoughts. It was making her uncomfortable and she couldn't shake the feeling someone was following her.

"Here you are," Ito handed her a cup.

"Thanks," she reached into her pocket to fish out a coin for him.

"Don't worry about it," he said winking and turning to his next customer.

Taking a sip of her tea, she noticed someone very out of place. And he noticed her. Taking off running, she threw her cup of tea in his direction. Unfortunately for her, he brought friends.

Her feet pounding against the ground, set a pace that she couldn't follow. There were too many people, it was mid afternoon and the dull ache in her head had increased again. She could barely see. Trying her test to ignore it, she ran through one of the back alley near the stadium. It was safer here because there were more people. The Equalists wouldn't strike with so many people around, and many of them were benders. They couldn't use their chi on all of them. Someone would probably see them. She hoped.

Jumping one of the fences into the back outdoor practice areas, the pain finally took over. Mika stopped running and the men chasing slowed preparing to get her. But she pulled out a gun, a rare object in the peaceful Republic City.

"Come closer! I'll shoot, don't worry," she yelled at them. She vaguely noticed there were other people there. But what did it matter?

"No, you won't girly." They advanced closer.

"Yes, I will!" she aimed and prepared to shoot but before she could two things happened. The first, the Equalists being beaten from behind by the three benders who they all had ignored. The second, the pain surged through her brain making her fall to her knees. She was dimly aware she was screaming for it to stop. It was like a hundred men screaming but only she could hear. But the screaming turned into voices that wouldn't stop talking.

"Hey, hey, hey, calm down. You're okay, you're fine," a boy had come up to her and was pulling her hands from her ears. He had bright green eyes and round cheeks. "You're fine."

"Make it stop!" she begged. He looked helpless.

"I can't. Just calm down…" she didn't hear the rest of what he said. Her world fell to darkness and the voices subsided.

The boy who had been trying to help was near screaming.

"Mako!" he called out to his brother. The older boy walked over to them both.

"Korra, can you keep them round up for now?" he asked.

The girl smirked back, "You doubt me?"

Mako rolled his eyes and knelt down by his brother and Mika.

"What's the matter with her, Bolin?" he asked.

"I have no idea. She kept asking for it to stop."

Mako reached for her wrist, trying to find a pulse. "Her heart's raging out of control. What does she want to be stopped?"

"I have no clue."

Right then, Mika's eyes began to flutter. She was hyperventilating. The pain was gone, but the voices were not. Opening her eyes, she was met with golden ones. Ones that looked very familiar.

"Breathe, breathe." Mako helped her into a sitting position.

As her breathing slowed, she asked, "Do I know you?"

Mako looked confused, "I don't think so."

Mika was sure, she knew those eyes from somewhere.

Mako reached for her wrist to take her pulse again. Pushing up her sleeves, he noticed three scars. They were straight lines down her forearm.

He knew those scars.

He knew those scars because he was there when they were made.

"Mika," he breathed out. His voice broke in disbelief, "You're alive."


End file.
